Disciple: O teacher, I wish to know the nature of Maya in order to give it up. What is abandoned without knowing, that abandonment is indeed not real abandonment.That is truly abandoned which is given up having known ‘this is thus’. Therefore O compassionate one, explain to me the nature of Maya.

Preceptor: That which endows (apparent) differentiation to beings with regard to their parts, is defined as Maya by the knowers of the essence of all scriptures.That which produces diverse distinctions in the Supreme is verily called Maya by the examiners of the nature of Maya.That which brings about impossible aberrations in the form of Brahman is verily called Maya by those learned in the essence of all scriptures.That which appears to the intellect as having attributes in the one devoid of all attributes, as duality in the non-dual, is called Maya.(The notion of) reality in the unreal is determined as Maya and that of unreality in the real is accounted for by the same.